CPDE: A Methodology for the Transparent Distribution of Centralized Smart Grid Programs

Control and management in smart grids are facing many challenges such as scalability, heterogeneity and technology innovation. This requires a transformation from the traditional centralised paradigm into a distributed one. In this article, a new distributed programming methodology, called Centralised Programming and Distributed Execution (CPDE), is proposed. CPDE relies on (i) the abstraction of the whole system as a distributed database; (ii) the use of the Smartlog declarative and reactive rule based language for expressing data manipulation; and (iii) the automatic Smartlog rule distribution according to data distribution. It thus provides a simple and straightforward mean for distributed programming. A centralised algorithm of fair over-voltage regulation of PV systems is used as a typical smart grids study case to validate the methodology and to compare it with centralized implementations. The experiments are implemented in a real-time simulation platform with a network of Raspberry Pis. In addition to showing its correctnes and ease of use, the performance of the CPDE implementation is studied, as well as its sensitivity to the increasing number of computing units and the data distribution. Results are promising and show the clear benefits of this methodology compared to more classical implementations.

Automated summary

A new distributed programming methodology called CPDE is proposed for control and management in smart grids. Experimental results show that CPDE has clear benefits compared to traditional methods, such as ease of use and performance.